FRENCH

Definite Articles:

French Articles must agree in gender and number with their nouns, so looking at the definite
articles for example, to express the in French you need to know what gender and number the
noun is using, to say the house you need to figure out its gender, house/ maison in French for
some reason isfeminine, and of course were talking here only about one house (singular), so the
proper article to use is la, the house = la maison.
Milk is masculine in French, to say the milk we need to use the definite article for
masculine/singular le with lait/ milk we get le lait
Sometimes you may need to use the definite article (l) instead of (le/ la) when the noun starts
with a vowel, like (a, e, o, u, h), the school: lcole.
Finally to form the definite article in the plural we use les, the kings = lesrois.

French Definite Articles
masculine Le roi (the king)
feminine La reine (the queen)
before vowels L'homme (the man)
plural Les rois

Note that French sometimes uses the articles in places where English dont. for example in
English you can simply say kings are . without the but in French you have to use the
definite article les with the word rois = kings les rois . Same thing with milkyou can
say milk is very rich in calcium but in French you have to use the le before lait le lait est
trs riche en calcium.

Indefinite Articles:

French indefinite articles are gender/number sensitive as well, so to express a in French you
need to know what gender and number the noun is using, to say a house you need to figure out
its gender, house/ maison in French is feminine, and were talking here only about one house
(singular), so the proper article to use is une, a house = une maison.
Computer in French is masculine, to say a computer we need to use the indefinite article for
masculine/singular un with ordinateur we get un ordinateur.
French Indefinite Articles
masculine Un roi (a king)
feminine Une reine (a queen)
before vowels Un homme (a man)
plural Des rois (kings)

Note, unlike English, where you dont use the indefinite article in the plural, French does use it
in the plural with the expression les, the closest equivalent in English is some, (I have a
pencil, an eraser, and (some) books = jai un crayon, une gomme, et des livres.
Partitive Articles:

The partitive in French is used to indicate a part of a whole, since its not used in English the
closest would be some or a piece of,
So to say I have (some) meat, oil, and (some) bread you need to use the proper partitive
articles: Jai de la viande, de l'huile, et dupain.

French Partitive Articles
masculine Du pain
feminine De la viande
before vowels De l'eau
plural

This is an overview of the French articles:

French Articles

Definite
Articles
Indefinite
Articles
Partitive
Articles
masculine Le roi (the king) Un roi (a king) Du pain
feminine La reine (the queen) Une reine (a queen) De la viande
before vowels L'homme (the man) Un homme (a man) De l'eau
plural Les rois Des rois (kings)


Demonstrative Articles:
Again French demonstrative articles have to agree in gender and number with the noun they
precede.

French Demonstrative Articles
Masculine Singular Feminine Singular Plural (Masc/ Fem)
Ce / cet (this/ that) Cette (this/ that) Ces (these/ those)
Ce livre (this/ that book)
Cet homme (this that man)
(cet is used only before vowels)
Cette ville
(this/ that city)
Ces gens (these/ those people)
Ces villes (these/ those cities)
Ces hommes (these/ those men)

In French you dont really have to specify if something is near (this) or far (that), theyre all
understood by context, but still in some cases you need to, when there some confusion, so the
solution is to add -ci (here) and -l (there) after the noun. Below is a table showing the exact
equivalent, which you need to use when you think there is a need for it:

Masculine Singular Feminine Singular Plural (Masc/ Fem)
Ce .-ci (this )
cet ..-ci (this only before vowels)
Cette .-ci (this ) Ces -ci (these )

Ce .-l (that )
cet ..-l (that only before vowels)
Cette .-l (that ) Ces -l (those )


Example: cette maison-l {that house (there)}, A ce moment-ci (at this very moment), ces gens-
l (these people).

French Adjectives
Just like in English, French adjectives describe or modify nouns and pronouns, but
unlike English, French adjectives should agree in gender (masculine or feminine) and
number (singular or plural) with the noun or pronoun they modify. The feminine is
usually formed by adding an -e to the masculine form, for example: a big restaurant
= un grand restaurant/ a big house = une grande maison. (house in French is
feminine, so the adjective big/ grand will add an extra e)
To form adjectives in the plural usually an s should be added to the singular
masculine: the big restaurant: le grand restaurant, the big restaurants:
les grands restaurants. Remember that the feminine plural will take an es:
a big house = une grande maison, big houses: desgrandes maisons.
French adjectives usually follow the noun they modify: a white house: une
maison blanche. But when it comes to some characters like: beauty, age, good or bad,
and size usually the adjective comes first: (an old frined: un vieux ami),
(a beautiful girl: une jolie fille)
Some adjectives can be placed either before or after depending on the meaning:
un grand acteur: a great actor/ un acteur grand: a tall actor.

A list of 100 French adjectives:

List of French Adjectives
angry fch mean mchant African Africain(e)
ashamed confus naive naf Algerian Algrien(ne)
athletic sportif nervous nerveux Asian Asiatique
bad weather mauvais nice sympa Australian Australien(ne)
annoyed ennuy nice out beau Belgium Belge
boring ennuyeux outgoing ouvert Brazilian Brsilien(ne)
brave courageux patient patient Canadian Canadien(ne)
calm tranquille patriotic patriotique Chinese Chinois(e)
cloudy nuageux pouring pleut verse Dutch Nerlandais(e)
cold froid pretty belle, jolie Egyptian gyptien(ne)
confident assur raining pleut English Anglais(e)
confused dsorient sad triste European Europen(ne)
cool frais scared effray French Franais(e)
delighted ravi serious srieux German Allemand(e)
exhausted puis short petit Italian Italien(ne)
fat gros shy timide Japanese Japonais(e)
foggy du brouillard smart intelligent Mexican Mexicain(e)
freezing gle snowing neige Moroccan Marocain(e)
friendly amical sorry navr Polish Polonais(e)
funny drle stormy orageux Portuguese Portugais(e)
handsome beau, joli strong fort Russian Russe
happy heureux stupid stupide Spain Espagnol(e)
hard-working travailleur sunny du soleil United States Amricain(e)
heavy lourd tall grand
hot chaud tan bronz black noir/e
humid humide thin mince blue bleu/e
impatient impatient tired fatigu brown
brun/e (or)
marron
in a hurry press ugly moche, laid gold dor/e
interesting intressant unfriendly froid gray gris/e
kind gentil weak faible green vert/e
lazy paresseux windy du vent orange orange
lonely solitaire worried inquiet pink rose
purple
pourpre (or)
violet/te
red rouge
silver argent/e
white blanc/he
yellow jaune













French Adverbs

French Adverbs usually add (-ment) to their feminine adjective form, the equivalent
of (-ly) in English, for example: the adjective slow in French is (lent for masculine,
and lente for feminine) now we only need the feminine to form an adverb, we will
add (-ment) to it, so (slowly) would be (lentement). Easy!
Well there are some exceptions though, like if an adjective ends in an (i), then (-ment)
is added to the masculine singular form, instead of to the feminine singular
form: poli becomes poliment (politely)
If the adjective ends in (-ant) or (-ent), then the adverb ends in (-amment) or (-
emment) which will be added to the root, and not to the whole adjective:
rcent becomes rcemment (recently)
Some other adjectives make odd adverbs like: gentil becomes gentiment (nicely).
Just like in English, not all the time an adverb has (-ly) at the end. And so is the case
in French, some adverbs take an irregular form like:
bon becomes bien (well), mauvais becomes mal (badly).

The position of an adverb is almost like the position of an adjective sometimes it
comes before or after the element it modifies. An adverb that modifies an adjective or
adverb comes before that adjective or adverb. J'ai t immdiatement convaincu (I
was immediately convinced).
When the adverb is modifying a verb, it is placed after the verb: Jai bien domi (I
slept well).

The list below contains many irregular adverbs as well as regular ones, but note that
the irregular adverbs are the most used, so they would come handy if you memorize
them by heart:

List of French Adverbs
endlessly l'infini in front devant quite a few pas mal de
barely peine down en bas little by little petit petit
currently actuellement up en haut may be peut-tre
elsewhere ailleurs
on the way of
doing sthg en train de worse pire
thus ainsi again encore more plus (de)
then alors at last enfin previously prcdemment
apparently apparemment enormously normment precisely prcisment
after aprs next ensuite first premirement
today aujourd'hui on purpose exprs near prs
previously auparavant frankly franchement almost presque
immediately aussitt kindly gentiment profoundly profondment
around autour yesterday hier then puis
in the past autrefois here ici somewhere quelque part
before avant immediately immdiatement sometimes quelquefois
a lot (of) beaucoup (de) intensely intensment rapidly rapidement
well bien never jamais rarely rarement
soon bientt there l recently rcemment
briefly brivement the majority of la majorit (de) seriously srieusement
how many/
much combien (de) most la plupart de often souvent
constantly constamment over there l-bas sufficiently suffisamment
first d'abord slowly lentement especially surtout
besides d'ailleurs far away loin late tard
early de bonne heure for a long time longtemps early tt
standing up debout now maintenant always toujours
inside dedans poorly, badly mal suddenly tout coup
outside dehors better mieux a little while ago tout l'heure
already dj less (than) moins (de) immediately tout de suite
tomorrow demain naturally naturellement very trs
since depuis anywhere n'importe o too much/ many trop (de)
lately dernirement anytime
n'importe
quand little of un peu (de)
behind derrire nowhere nulle part quickly vite
from now dsormais sometimes parfois deeply vivement
below dessous everywhere partout willingly volontiers
above dessus










French Verbs
In English verbs dont change that much when theyre conjugated, for example they usually
add an s in the third person singular, the rest stays the same, I speak, you speak, he speaks,
we speak, they speak, so as you have noticed the verb to speak stays almost unchanged, in
French the verb can have up to 6 conjugations, each pronoun may use a unique form. But its
not that complicated as it may seem, because most French verbs follow a pattern, once
youre familiar with that pattern you will be able to conjugate a big number of verbs the
same way.
Just like in English a verb in French takes different forms in different tenses (present, future),
voices, and moods.
Before talking about the conjugation categories, consider that a verb is divided into two
parts, the first part is the stem or root and the second part is the ending which usually
changes from one tense to another and from one person to another.
French verbs are categorized into 5 categories or groups, the first three categories are verbs
ending in (-er), (-ir), and (-re), which are considered regular verbs, meaning that verbs
having these endings in their infinitive are usually conjugated the same way depending on
the tense. The good news is that this kind of verbs makes 90 % of all verbs.
The 4
th
group (ends in -er) and takes the same endings as regular verbs, but takes different
stem when conjugated. Finally there is a 5
th
category which is unpredictable concerning its
root (stem) as well as its endings. Both categories need to be memorized by heart, especially
the fifth category which is hard to predict since it doesnt follow any pattern but easy to
memorize.

The present tense is used to just like English to express what happens in the present time.
The present tense is regularly formed by dropping the ending of the infinitive and adding a
personal ending to the stem: the stem of the verb (to speak/ parler) is (parl) now that we have
the stem/ root of the verb, we will add the endings to it, since to speak/ parler belongs to the
(-er) verbs we need to add the endings accordingly.The appropriate endings would be : je -e,
tu -es, il -e, nous -ons, vous -ez, ils -ent :

French Present Tense
Example of (-er) verbs endings
singular plural
je parle (I speak)
tu (familiar) parles (you speak)
il, elle parle (he, she speaks)
nous parlons (we speak)
vous parlez (you guys speak)
ils, elles parlent (they speak)

The appropriate endings for the second category (-ir) are: je -is, tu -is, il -it, nous -issons,
vous -issez, ils -issent. Lets take (to finish/ finir) the stem is fin:
Example of (-ir) verbs endings
singular plural
je finis (I finish)
tu (familiar) finis (you finish)
il, elle finit (he, she finishes)
nous finissons (we finish)
vous finissez (you guys finish)
ils, elles finissent (they finish)

The appropriate endings for the 3rd category (-re ending) are: je -s, tu -s, il -, nous -ons,
vous -ez, ils -ent. For example the stem for (to lose/ perdre)
is perd:
French Present Tense
Example of (-re) verbs endings
singular plural
je perds (I lose)
tu (familiar) perds (you lose)
il, elle perd (no ending) (he, she loses)
nous perdons (we lose)
vous perdez (you guys lose)
ils, elles perdent (they lose)

The forth categories is about verbs changing their stem while keeping the same regular
endings that the first category (-er) has, for example the stem of the verb (to know/savoir)
will be (sai) in the singular and (sav) in the plural, plus the regular endings: je -s, tu -s, il -t,
nous -ons, vous -ez, ils -ent.
Example of (-er) verbs with irregular stem
singular plural
je sais (I know)
tu (familiar) sais (you know)
il, elle sait (he, she knows)
nous savons (we know)
vous savez (you guys know)
ils, elles savent (they know)

This kind of verbs needs to be memorized or at least memorize their stem.

The 5
th
group contains the kind of verbs that have irregular stems and irregular endings, for
example the verb (to come/ venir) ends in (-ir) but doesnt take the endings of the (-ir)
categories, venir takes the following endings instead: je -s, tu -s, il -t, nous -ons, vous -ez,
ils -ent. Also its stem is not simply (ven) but (vien) in the singular, (ven) in the plural, and
add an extra (n) in the third person plural.
French Present Tense
Example of (-er) verbs with irregular stem
singular plural
je viens (I come)
tu (familiar) viens (you come)
il, elle vient (he, she comes)
nous venons (we come)
vous venez (you guys come)
ils, elles viennent (they come)

The last category contains the toughest verbs and should be memorized by heart; it appears
that theyre used a lot, so it may come handy if you memorize them.